Dignam's Journey
by AlexFili
Summary: Dignam, a lone baskken is wandering the desert. He knows where he must go, to fix the world... but it is dangerous. With the help of a slig, mudokon and vykker, maybe... just maybe... he can fix things
1. Part One

= Dignam's Journey = by AlexFili

= Chapter 1: The Gap =

The harshness of the sands was intolerable. It's hard to believe that anyone could walk more than a few miles of an ocean-sized desert without eventually succumbing to the sands and being torn apart by the desert-dwelling birds. But as long as someone had water, they could survive for a little while. If they had food, they could survive a bit longer. Dignam had both, a reasonable supply at that. Fingers crossed, it would be enough to take him to Torl, if not he'd have to ration himself. He was already rationing the food as it is, but he could adjust his rationing more.

Dignam hadn't just completed the basic survival program. He knew virtually everything there was to know about the self regulation of body temperature, control of emotions and desires... truth be told he could go hungry for days at a time if he had to. But he didn't want it to come to that, yet. He didn't know what exactly would be out in the sands waiting for him. He had to be at least semi-concious so that he could deal with any threat that might appear. He took another bite of his popkin. The jam inside trickled out a bit and hit the sand. He wiped his mouth with his hand and then wiped his hand on his shorts. He adjusted his bulky backpack, making sure the straps were tight enough, and continued walking.

For a while nothing happened, then he stumbled across a ravine. This was a large ravine which went from left to right as far as the eye could see. 'A detour could take too long', he thought to himself, 'I had better see if I can jump over it" Dignam eventually got closer and peered down. It was at least a few hundred feet to the bottom. He didn't trust his legs to survive the fall so he looked around for a shorter distance to jump. After a few minutes he found the place where the ravine was thinner. He took a little while to plan before starting a run and then clearing the ravine with relative ease. This would be the first obstacle, but not the last. Not by a long shot.

= Chapter 2: The Hunted =

For the next few minutes, Dignam was uneasy. He could sense 'something' but he had no idea what it was. There were a few large rocks around the area that something could hide behind. Better for him to feign ignorance for now and see what happens. He continued to walk, glancing back every so often. He then saw it out of the corner of his eye, a Sand Sneaker. He could hear a soft whispering noise as his In-Ear Translator did it's work automatically. The creature was repeating "Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha" over and over, barely audible over the swishing of the sand lightly in the wind. Dignam let his hand fall to his right gun holster and flexed his fingers.

In a flash, Dignam turned around and surprised the creature, Dignam's coat moving along with his motion. Dignam fired three shots in rapid succession. The creature was hit by some of the bullets and slithered out of the way. Could have been two or three hits, Dignam didn't know. The creature hid behind one of the large rocks and hissed menacingly. "Youse got gutsssss", it said. Dignam put three more bullets into his revolver and then hid behind a large rock which was nearby. Dignam could hear the metallic ping as the three bullets were promptly dug out by the Sand Sneaker. "Well wouldn't you know it, the thing can dig out the bullets. That could be a problem" Dignam decided it was best to end this fast.

When the creature was done digging out the bullets, he slithered from behind the rock, but his prey was gone. The Sand Sneaker narrowed his eyes and looked around. It sniffed and then moved forwards. It came up to the large rock which was nearest, got ready to pounce, began pouncing and... didn't see anything there. It had just enough time to look around again before it was hit on the head by a medium-sized rock that lay nearby. It barely had time to hiss before Dignam jumped out from behind yet another large rock and whipped out both of his revolvers. After twelve bangs, the creature shrieked loudly and fell forwards. 'That's what happens to those that follow me', Dignam thought. Dignam walked on, but unbeknownst to him, he was still being followed.

= Chapter 3: A Purpose =

On his way to the City of Seff, he started thinking more about what he was going to do when he got there. 'I have to find some people that can help me. I'll need two... maybe three at a stretch, can't do this by myself, not on my own' He then remembered what the Elder of the last village he visited had said:

"The world is wounded, we're running out of time" Dignam pictured the Elder in his long flowing cloak and his feathery headdress, no doubt obtained from the last mudokon in the town, which was a contrast with his grubb features and long beard. "There is a great evil beneath the planet which is threatening to cause all life to degenerate and die. The world will end in four weeks"

Digman didn't agree with that last comment. He knew that it would end within a week. How he know this he couldn't explain, but he felt as if he had known this for much longer, perhaps since he was young. Dignam spotted the city sign marking Seff in the distance and kept walking. The outline of the town was only waist-high fences, he could see peep holes in the fence where defenders would mount their rifles and ward off potential attackers. The lone guard stood in the watchtower nodded at Dignam as he walked in. Dignam headed to the centre of town and found what he was looking for, the local bar. Dignam entered the Red Rascal, moving past the tables of people playing poker and the few remaining dancers in the shady areas. "Gimme a Snaflax" he said to the barman, the barman nodded and poured out a frothy green brew. Dignam rummaged though his small wallet and left two slightly bent silver coins. Was this where he was going to find those he was seeking?

= Chapter 4: The Chosen =

Dignam looked around and eyed up the people at the bar. Only a few might be worthy candidates. Most of them hadn't seen enough action, some had seem too much action and looked too frail to be of much use. He approached the far side of the bar where he saw a slig with a yellow bandana, a distance scope above his right eye and a large square-shaped battle rifle on his back. The slig turned around and looked at Digman. "Yo", he said in that metallic voice of his. Dignam raised the corner of his mouth a little. "I'm after someone for an important mission" The slig sipped his drink and asked, "Just me? Or others too?" Dignam took a quick glance around, "At least one more. It's a risky mission"

"Hmmm" the slig said, contemplating Dignam's offer. "Well, okay. Normally I wouldn't work with them other folks, but for you I'll make an exception. Awfully far out for a baskken, aren't ya?" Dignam smiled, "Well... the world is wounded, so they say. But if I can fix it I will" The slig sighed. "Name's Cadrig, nice to meet ya"

Dignam placed his left hand near his gun as two figures approached. One of them, a mudokon spoke "We heard what you were saying, we want to tag along" Dignam eyed them suspiciously. The smaller figure was a mudokon with a large bow and several curved knives, the taller figure was a vykker, the first one he saw for the past decade. Dignam closed his eyes and thought deeply. He opened his eyes and then said, "Okay. But we leave in an hour, got it?" The two newcomers nodded. The vykker held out his hand, "I'm Scazz and this is Rolf" Dignam shook his hand. And so the party was formed

= Chapter 5: Dark Deep =

Dignam, Cadrig, Scazz and Rolf left the bar. The swinging doors kept on swinging as they went past, eventually stopping due to the lack of momentum. The light wind was blowing some sand across the street, as well as a few bits of dead trees and branches. Dignam turned to face the others, "Take one last look at the town, this may be your last chance" Cadrig did so, but the others didn't. Rolf smiled, "We'll be back, I know it" Dignam couldn't help smiling at the optimism of youth. "Okay then, to the pit"

Seff Pit, the world's entrance to the very depths of the underworld. Few entered, even fewer returned. But if anywhere was the cause of all the world's problems, it was here. Dignam took out his flashlight, said "I do not fear death" and then proceeded to enter. Cadrig pulled down his viewfinder, putting night vision mode on with an audible click. Rolf and Scazz followed closely behind. Scazz was humming a tune and twirling a circular sawblade.

The first thing that hits you when you enter the pit, the god-awful stench of rotten meat, mouldy bread and dead fungus. The second thing... the lack of light and disorientating corridors which twisted and turned, by the gods, it was enough to bring a grown mudokon to their knees faster than you can say Meech Munchies. But they had to persevere. This was only the entrance, and they must travel far. The third thing that hits you, the noise... the noise of the drums going thump-thump-thump tha-thump. Every few seconds, the noise grew louder and louder... Scazz turned around, thinking that he could hear something, but he saw nothing and moved onwards. 


	2. Part Two

= Chapter 6: Watched By Many =

The stalker growled in a low voice, "Not long, not now until they fall into the trap, so they will" Like a spider waiting to catch a fly, he maintained a distance and made sure the others didn't know he was there. Cadrig's foot got stuck on a mudokon skull, "Jeez, you think they'd so some spring cleaning round here" Rolf didn't like being here, the mudokon skulls didn't help one jolt. But they were moving closer to their goal, at least, Dignam could feel it.

Dignam crossed the corner and felt his body tremble. The thing they saw was a mixture of four things. It was alive, it was skeletal, it was glowing white and had a mysterious feeling about it. They waited for what seemed like an age before it turned away and disappeared into a corridor. Scazz had never seen anything like it, he trembled for the first time in his life and shook himself, trying to regain composure. They kept on walking, avoiding the bones and other debris that lay scattered around the uneven ground.

They approached a well-lit large room and entered. Dignam couldn't believe his eyes. Inside was a giant monstrosity of a machine. It had hundreds of cogs, thousands of screws and rivets... counting the number of welded pieces of metal would have taken the best part of ten years if that. It truly was a maze of pipes and noisy metal parts. It took them a few minutes to fully appreciate how large this machine was. The noise kept reverberating in their heads, making a large metal thudding noise like a jackhammer, but slower and more penetrating. There has to be a way to turn it off.

= Chapter 7: To Each Their Own =

Dignam walked around the device a few times. The others waited with baited breath. Then Dignam spoke, "I need to switch this off. But there must be more machines ahead. Go on without me and see what you can find" Rolf nodded, "Okay, we'll get going. We'll come back soon" Scazz pondered whether they would make it back, he kept this to himself. Scazz, Cadrig and Rolf walked through the doorway on the opposite wall to where they entered. It was dark but there were dim lights placed at each corner of the corridor.

Then the party reached a fork in the corridor, the grey bricks parting at either side with a flat wall directly in front of them. Cadrig looked up and down the corridors. "Me and Rolf'll go this way", he pointed to the left corridor. Scazz reluctantly nodded and headed down the right passage. It wasn't much further along that Rolf saw a large stone slab nearby. As Rolf slowly approached the slab, he proceeded to step onto it. This caused a significant grinding noise, which was a door that was opening at the next corner of the corridor. Rolf guessed that this pressure plate was directly linked and would close as soon as he took his bare feet away from it. Cadrig coughed, "This dust gets everywhere, ugh. Anyway, you stick around here. If I want you to open the door again I'll hit it, okay?" Rolf nodded, "Good luck in there" Rolf watched as Cadrig disappeared into the darkness, the only thing visible of the slig being the green glow of the activated night vision goggles.

Scazz continued walking a while, until he reached a room with five doors, each with a purple coloured frame. The doors themselves were coloured in shades of grey. Going from lightest grey on the left to almost pitch blackness on the far right. Scazz opened the first door, it led to a dark corridor. He closed it and opened the second, which had what initially looked like an identical room, but then he noticed it was upside down. He then opened the third, his heart skipped a beat. Looking back at him was what should have been a reflection of himself, as normal mirrors are... but instead he saw a skeletal form of himself. Every minute movement was copied. Weird couldn't even begin to describe it. He closed the door before any more of his remaining sanity could slip away. He opened the fourth. Again like the first door it lead nowhere, but there was something wrong about this door. He didn't know why. He then opened the fifth and final door. Scazz's mouth fell open at what he saw. "It's..."

= Chapter 8: Left Behind =

Scazz could never describe what he saw to anyone. He doubt he would ever find the words to describe the terror. He saw a neverending wall of fire, extending and extending as far as the eye can see. He saw... things, travelling across and through the fire faster than blinking. There weren't hundreds but billions of these dark creatures, moving like a gigantic swarm... but with the chaos of something that did not have long to live. Scazz took a minute to steady himself and then took another look through the doorway. This time he saw it.

A large glass sphere, miles away, perhaps even hundreds of miles away. It was glowing and growing at a steady rate. 'This was it', he thought, 'this is what's causing all the problems' Without time to decide what to do, he knew exactly what he had to do. But it would take time.

Meanwhile, the infernal machine was whirring and clanking at an ever increasing volume. Dignam searched and searched until he found what he was looking for, it was a large lever. He tried to pull it but it was very rusty and barely moved. He put all his weight into it and heaved more until it moved, slightly but steadily. A large clunk told him that the lever was in the right place. The machine started slowing down, but there was more to be done.

= Chapter 9: The Only Way =

Cadrig stopped and read the sign which was in front of him, "Shutdown protocol" He continued onwards, seeing a glass cabinet and a dead end further ahead. As he got closer, he noticed there was a switch inside. It was one of those safety switches you had to pull out and twist to activate. He smashed the glass the only way he could, he raised one of his mechanical legs and kicked the glass in. He put his hand through the metallic frame of the cabinet, pulled the mechanism up and twisted. Now he had to get back to the concealed wall.

Scazz was hurriedly putting together the weapon. Weapon sight, stock, stabilizer, missile... As he worked, the creatures moved faster and faster. He aimed squarely in the middle of the glass sphere, his aim was unstable and he swayed from side to side. He held his breath, focused and pulled the trigger, releasing the missile. It travelled in a steady arc before colliding with the glass sphere. Thousands of glass shards flew in every direction, Scazz closed the door quickly. An audible locking noise told him that the door was now locked, possibly forever.

Dignam pulled more levers, each one was rustier than the rest and took more time and effort to pull. He was nearly done, the machine was barely whirring now. Soon it would stop whirring completely.

Rolf heard a tapping noise on the rock, the metal noise of Cadrig's metal foot hitting the stone made a noise which was not easy to miss. Rolf stepped on the pressure plate and Cadrig came into view again. Rolf asked, "Did it go alright?" Cadrig nodded, "All sorted. Now we have to get back to the others. I have a feeling we don't have much time left"

= Chapter 10: The Resolution =

With a great deal of effort, Dignam pulled the last lever, the machine gave a final whirr of desperation and then stopped working completely. But someone else could pull these levers the other way and the whole mess would start again. This had to be destroyed. Dignam took off his backpack and then took out something wrapped in protective foam. The object was FTT, the most explosive substance known to exist. A single teaspoon worth of FTT powder is enough to level a small city block. He took out the casing, readied the timer and then waited for the others.

Scazz was the first back, he told Dignam about the glass sphere and the doors. Rolf and Cadrig came not long after and they told Dignam what they found too. Dignam nodded, "Well done everyone, now I have to blow this machine up", he gestured towards the device, "It's FTT, enough to turn this area into rubble. But we need to get out of here" Rolf looked around, "What do we have to do?" Dignam took out a remote button device. "I press this, and we have a few minutes to evacuate. The AI must also be deactivated. Scazz, I leave that to you" Scazz nodded and headed to the computer terminal nearby, frantically tapping.

Scazz yelled, "Done" and Dignam pressed the button to start the FTT reaction. They had a few seconds to start running before the room flashed red on and off. An alarm could be heard and an electronic voice said "two minutes to AI permanent shutdown" Dignam ran faster, "Let's go!" he yelled. Once they got back into the corridors, some of the doors began closing. Cadrig slipped just as he crossed the threshold where the door closed, it closed on his mechanical pants, completely trapping him. Dignam raced back and grabbed him by the elbow, "No time, we have to go" Cadrig didn't waste a second. He grabbed hold of Dignam and they ran out of the facility. The quartet made one final dash for freedom out in the open air and the structure underground trembled. The vibrations could no doubt be heard in the neighbouring town, the crew panted for breath and thanked their lucky stars. Dignam looked at Cadrig, "Sorry for your pants, we'll get more" Cadrig chuckled, "Preferred copter blades anyhow. So that's it then?" Dignam sighed, "Well... there might be another one. But if not, then we're done" Rolf smiled, "Here we go again..."

To Be Continued...

Mysterious voice on a communication device: "Yes, it has been destroyed. Yes, just as you wanted sir. No, I don't think they realise what they've done. Ah, so you want them to see... 'that?' Hahaha. Well, maybe tomorrow. Goodbye... mister director" 


End file.
